A young boy and his dog were playing in the front yard when the neighbor’s dog came running at top speed, alerting the boy and putting the German Shepherd on high alert.
The German Shepherd’s quick protective response has won praise from dog lovers around the world. In the now widely shared video, a German shepherd named Tank protects the boy from an attacking dog. Sensing danger, Tank did two notable things—he pushed the boy down, keeping him out of the immediate path of the dogs.
He then stood next to the boy, then faced another dog. After chasing the
dog into the driveway, the tank stopped quickly and turned back to the family to see if the boy was safe, which he was after his mum ran out to grab him.
The father described in further detail what happened on ViralHog’s YouTube channel:
“Our 6-year-old son on Nov 8, 2022, was playing with his best friend, 1-year-old German shepherd Tank, in the front yard in South Florida. The front door neighbor’s dog got loose and charged at our son, Tank pushed our son down and stood over him to protect him, and chased the other dog until the threat was gone.”
He added, “You can see our blue nose pitbull run out of the garage for backup but Tank had it under control. Our son was fine and the other dog was taken back home by his owner.”
Some viewers thought that the neighbor’s dog didn’t look to be aggressive and may have simply been running over to say hello and play, as his body language appears to indicate he was more curious than attacking. However, as it’s unclear what the other dog was intending to do it’s understandable that Tank and the boy responded as they did.
Many viewers admired Tank’s discipline and remarked on his actions. One wrote, “I love that your dogs didn’t attack the other dog, they just scared it away and protected your little boy. Those are GREAT dogs you have.”
Another admired, “Your German Shepherd push[ed] your little boy away from that dog and pounced that dog! Such great protection!”
“Bruuuhh, u notice how he (dog) slapped his brakes when he realized he was getting too far away from his baby (kid),” wrote another TikTokker. “My boy did a full 180 and checked on the kid.”
Other viewers wondered where the pit bull went during the incident. The father later shared a video on his TikTok account @flodaboy1 showing the pittie was “Not far away, just getting to a higher vantage point.”
